Ashraful axed, Mashrafe named captain

June 23, 2009

The Bangladesh Cricket Board on Tuesday sacked captain Mohammad Ashraful and replaced him with his deputy Mashrafe Bin Mortaza as they announced a 15-strong national cricket team for the upcoming tour of the West Indies and Zimbabwe.

The BCB decided to relieve Ashraful of his captaincy duties to allow him to focus on his batting. He had been saying that he had no plans to quit the captaincy after the disastrous World Twenty20 campaign in England.

Shakib Al Hasan, the world’s No.1 allrounder in ODIs, has been named the vice-captain, the BCB announced in a press conference.

Ashraful, who took over from Habibul Bashar after the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies, was supposed to lead the side in the July-August West Indies tour as per the decision of the board on Feb 7.

The move came just six days before the Tigers are to leave for the Caribbean islands on June 29.

“Mashrafee has been announced the captain and Shakib Al Hasan his deputy for the Bangladesh national cricket team for the upcoming series against the West Indies and Zimbabwe,” the BCB Media and Communications Committee chairman Mohammed Jalal Yunus said at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium.

“We believe we have picked the ideal person as the captain. Apart from his obvious match-winning ability Mashrafe is a proven fighter and has the experience.

“He can inspire and motivate the team. This is a new challenge for him and we know that he loves challenges.”

Yunus continued: “We hope both of them will perform and will take Bangladesh cricket forward in the future.”

“The decision to replace him (Ashraful) was taken with the intention of relieving the burden on[him] to allow him to play his natural game.

“We all know his quality and what he is capable of as a batsman. We are confident that without the burden of captaincy his batting would flourish and he would contribute more to the team.”

“The board wants to sincerely thank Mohammad Ashraful for his contribution as captain,” added Yunus.

Chief selector Rafiqul Alam almost retained the same Test squad that played against Sri Lanka at home early this year.

However, there were two new faces — pacer Rubel Hossain who has played ODIs and uncapped wicketkeeper Shahagir Hossain.

“Shahagir has been on our book for the last four years and his performance in academy, Bangladesh A team and domestic competitions is notable.

“He is also a good batsman,” Alam said.

“A second wicketkeeper is needed in the long tour in the West Indies and Zimbabwe and we think Shahagir is the right person to do this job.”

Left-arm spinner Abdur Razzak was not considered for his long absence in the longer matches and Enamul Haq Junior was picked for both Tests against the West Indians following good performance against the Maharastra Cricket Association at home.

However, the axe fell on spinning all-rounder Naeem Islam, who was on the squad against Sri Lanka. Mahmudullah Riad was recalled for the Test squad.

Bangladesh will start the tour taking on West Indies A in the lone three-day warm-up match (July 3-5) at Kensington Oval, Barbados before facing Chris Gayle’s men in the first of two Tests from July 9 at Arnos Vale, St Vincent.

The second Test will be held at Grenada on July 17-21.

The visitors will also play a warm-up one-day match against UWI Vice Chancellor’s XI on July 24 while the three ODIs are scheduled for July 26, 28 and 31.

The lone Twenty20 match will be held on August 2 at Warner Park, St Kitts.

Downward curve

Ashraful led Bangladesh in 62 games– in 13 Tests, 38 ODIs and 11 Twenty20s — guided the team to eight ODI wins, including one each against Sri Lanka and New Zealand, and two Twenty20 internationals.

In the Test, Bangladesh lost 12 out of 13 and the lone draw was against New Zealand in the rain-hit Chittagong Test.

His notable contribution as captain was guiding his side to the Super Eights of the inaugural ICC World Twenty20 in South Africa in 2007. Despite that, Bangladesh won only two out of 11 games.

Ashraful had scored 542 runs in 13 Tests with average of 22.58 and 896 runs. He averages 25.60 in 38 ODIs.

The 25-year-old batsman had scored just 189 runs in 11 Twenty20 with an average of 17.18.

SQUAD

Masrafe Bin Mortaza, Shakib Al Hasan, Tamim Iqbal, Zunaed Siddique, Roqibul Hassan, Mohammad Ashraful, Kazi Shahadat Hossain, Syed Rasel, Mahmud Ullah, Rubel Hossain, Mehrab Hossain Jr., Imrul Kayes, Mahbubul Alam, Enamul Haque Jr. and Gazi Shahagir Hossain.

Ashraful axed, Mashrafe named captain

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